


Love Square

by misbehavingvigilante



Series: Tales Inspired by the Discord Year 1 [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2020-02-29 06:42:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18773323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misbehavingvigilante/pseuds/misbehavingvigilante
Summary: “Do you think I’m like flirting with a sixty year old or something?” Tony asked, plopping himself down onto Rhodey’s bed as if it was his own. Rhodey, to his credit, didn’t even raise an eyebrow or looked away from his book. Tony, ever the petulant cat he was, took offense at that and wormed himself under Rhodey’s arms and between the book and his face.“It’s okay, it’s not like I was reading.” Rhodey rolled his eyes. “But sure let’s talk about your love life. First it’s the ASMR channel dude you fell in love. ‘Oh, Rhodey, his voice and his hands, he has big hands, you know what that means’ as if I needed to hear that.”





	Love Square

**Author's Note:**

> So niche au is niche. I originally prompted 'inspired by my hatred of planned obsolescence modern no powers au where Tony is one of those god tier youtubers who teach you how to repair electronics and etc that would otherwise cost you an arm and an leg to repair through the company channels. Steve is a faithful viewer as he is broke as the rest of us but also because gosh, Tony sure is pretty, isn’t he? ' And several other people on the discord gave their own takes such as Steve is a youtuber who used to do ASMR but quit due to financial reasons and who also is the devout commentor on Tony's videos. 
> 
> Also identity porn, which this should have had, but I wanted something fairly simple and fluffy thus this. 
> 
> I hope it's enjoyed regardless!

“Do you think I’m like flirting with a sixty year old or something?” Tony asked, plopping himself down onto Rhodey’s bed as if it was his own. Rhodey, to his credit, didn’t even raise an eyebrow or looked away from his book. Tony, ever the petulant cat he was, took offense at that and wormed himself under Rhodey’s arms and between the book and his face.

“It’s okay, it’s not like I was reading.” Rhodey rolled his eyes. “But sure let’s talk about your love life. First it’s the ASMR channel dude you fell in love. ‘Oh, Rhodey, his voice and his hands, he has big hands, you know what that means’ as if I needed to hear that.”

“Am I wrong though?”

“I don’t know, Tony. I never met the guy, and if he was here, he might think we were dating and that would ruin your chances wouldn’t it?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “If he can’t accept that I like to cuddle with my Rhodey bear, then he’s simply not the one for me.”

“Which one?” Rhodey asked, tilting his head away from Tony trying to read the book again since unlike Tony he couldn’t usually wake up the day of a major test and be expected to ace the exam without any prior studying.

Tony was a genius, yes, but he’d gotten into MIT, too. He was no slouch.

“ASMR guy. I don’t know what the mystery commenter looks like his profile picture is, it’s the generic youtube one like old people or the internet illiterate use.”

“Maybe it is an old guy, you’re not in the market for a sugar daddy.”

“Well.” Tony considered that. He had the money, but it was really more of his parent’s money than anything. Sugaring could be a pretty decent income admittedly, but he felt like he was smart enough to strike it out on his own. His Youtube channel was rather successful because his first post had been prompted by a crying, drunk college girl.

Not an unfamiliar sight, even on this campus but she had seemed pretty upset so Tony had asked what was wrong because after he went a few days without sleep, his sense of boundaries started to disappear and he couldn’t quite tell the difference between what he was thinking and saying.

She had a new phone, but it had broken and apparently the company had wanted an obscenely high price to fix it and she couldn’t afford it because she was here on tuition.   

Tony had trailed off after that, not because he wasn’t sympathetic but because he started patting down his person for whatever spare bits of metals he had on him, or in his hair. Rhodey like to joke he was made of iron with how he attracted metal like that, but really, Tony was pretty sure he’d know if he accidentally magnetized himself.

Probably.

To make a not so long story, short, Tony had been able to fix the phone and he’d gotten hugged for it. Maybe Rhodey had been right he was a little too scrawny with how easily he’d been picked off the ground, or maybe college girls were just that shredded nowadays.

Planned obsolescence made business sense, it was a smart financial move to build products with a short shelf life in order to make customers have no choice but to be repeat one ever few odd years instead of before where similar products may have lasted decades.

Technology like computers and phones were adapting fast and hard, that was true where things could get obsolete, or outdated that quickly. But a lot of other things? There was no other way for it than greed.  

It was very rare when Tony agreed perhaps things were done better in the past, but this was one exception to the rule. There hadn’t been as much room for planned obsolesce back in the day, when you had to turn every part to make a business.     

So, the idea had quickly formed from there. Why stop at being known as  the tech fixer on MIT? He might as well share his brilliance with the whole, and the internet was just there for the taking. His mother always said, he had a pretty face, good enough to be on camera, though she probably hadn’t meant like this.

Tony had quickly become popular overnight, maybe it was the dark eyes under his eyes, or the manic glee he took in destroying things when he had to show people how to fix them, but for one reason or another people had loved him.

Though his fame had come with his favorite ASMR channel having gone under, quietly like it had never been there to begin with even if the videos were still up, there had been no updates and no warning there was going to a hiatus. It may have slightly encouraged Tony to post often and a lot, on top of his already crowded college schedule but what could he do when he couldn’t sleep?

Then the mystery commenter had appeared, a light had dawned on his life again through their interactions.  Their many, many interactions as the commenter never failed to comment on any video he put out regardless of theme

“Earth to Tony!” Rhodey’s not so sweet dulcets reached his ears.

He groaned, shying away from him slightly which Rhodey took full advantage of, grabbing a pillow to prevent Tony from leeching onto him again and eyes back on that book. Tony felt like slapping it out of his hands on principal.

“Not so loud.”

“Then maybe you should get some sleep instead of zoning out on me like that.”

“I caaan’t.” Tony whined. “Let’s go to antique store so I can find this classic radio so I can learn to fix it for the mystery commenter who might be old enough to be my grandpa, but he seems nice at least? Maybe I could learn to love the wrinkles, what happens to a dick at that age, I wonder-“

“I will go with you, if you a, don’t finish that sentence, and b, leave me alone to study tonight.”

“Deal.”

 

 

 

True to his words, he does leave Rhodey alone for the night. He’s not really sure what he’s going to do, he had been tinkering with the radio, but he hadn’t much been able to do anything about it because Rhodey was right he should sleep, but he couldn’t sleep.

Tony ended up taking the subway, nowhere in particular just because he found the sounds somewhat soothing. He’d been a New Yorker all his life, he wasn’t afraid of falling asleep on the bus when most people couldn’t tell Tony Stark apart from any other college student like this.

A handful of minutes or a few stops later, Tony wasn’t sure entirely, but he heard a familiar soft voice near him.

“Which is your stop?”

Tony blinked, bleary, wondering if he had fallen asleep with his headphones in to an old ASMR video again, but then there was big, blond, and beautiful next to him. A concerned look on his face, and god, he really did have a beautiful body.  

“Am I dreaming?” Tony asked, because this seemed like something pull straight out of one of his fantasies.

“Uh, no.” The blond answered, with a raised eyebrow. God, almost every inch of his face was perfect to go along with his body. “But you were sleeping since I got on the bus and that was like two stops ago. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t miss your stop.”

“Did anyone ever tell you have a nice voice?” Tony said before he could help himself.

“I… uh, heard that before, yes.” The man looked a little flushed by that confession.  

That was hardly the most obscene comment Tony could have gotten but he realized not everyone was into that. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be weird. I just haven’t been able to sleep a lot. The bus is kinda relaxing. My favorite ASMR person stopped so…”

“I… um…”

“Right, sorry you probably don’t know what that is.” Tony yawned, in his half asleep state he had forgotten that, though it wasn’t the niche thing it was a few years back, a lot of people still didn’t know what it meant. Tony wasn’t sure if he believed in some of the science behind it, but he couldn’t deny it helped his insomnia.  “I’m Tony. What’s your name because right now in my head it’s subway angel unless you’re cool with that.”

“Subway angel?” It was then that Tony noticed the sketchpad in said angel’s hands, and god, they were also nice hands. Big and proportionate, god, he was so bi, so very, very bi.

“You draw?”

“Sometimes. People say it was a waste of my major, sometimes I look at the world and I think that they’re right.” Subway angel looked ever the part of a sad puppy, which should be illegal, definitely illegal.

“Starving artist, huh?” Tony asked and without waiting for reply, “I could take you out to dinner, if you want.”

“I got work but tomorrow?”

Tony nodded. “Same time, same place?”

“Sure. My name is Steve, by the way.” Steve stood from the seat and gave him a blinding, bright smile before he got off the bus, and at that moment, Tony could have sworn he died.

There was no way any of that just happened.

A hallucination, but a too convincing hallucination not to show up tomorrow and see if it would prove real.

 

 

 

“Rhodey, Rhodey, Rhodey wake up.”

It was not the first time that Rhodey had woke up to Tony hovering over him in his bed, demanding his attention and it would not be the last. However he’d only gotten two hours of sleep and the clock was flashing four am in the morning, he was not in the best mood.

“Tony, if the building isn’t on fire, I will seriously be re-considering our friendship.” It was an empty threat, Tony was his and he wouldn’t trade him for anything in the world, but right now, he was not pleased with his best friend.

“Subway angel and the ASMR dude are the same person! It’s his hands and his voice. I didn’t realize until I fell asleep for like an hour, did you know, you think so much clearer after you sleep? We need science people on this and stat!”

“Wait, what? Who’s subway angel? Did you fall in love with a third person?”

“Aren’t you listening?” Tony rolled his eyes. “Subway angel is ASMR Dude, and if subway angel is Steve then ASMR dude is Steve, and then that means I can not only sleep, but also sleep with him!”

“Wait, who’s Steve?” Rhodey finally sat up bed just in time for Tony to walk away from him happily. “Get back here, Tones! Don’t leave me in the middle of this love square not that you went ahead and woke me up!”

**Author's Note:**

> If you wanna chat, I'm on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/thiefoftruth26).


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